The Paramere Search Operation (13)
The Paramere Search Operation (13)
BOOM!!!
A high-rise building collapsed. The view ahead was blocked by billowing dust.
I immediately turned into a side path. Alone, I could get out easily enough. But behind me, there were plenty of people who wouldn't be able to keep up.
"This way!"
Rotten flesh crawled out from between the buildings as they collapsed one after another. The Rotten Ones—Ratten—surged in all at once.
The Rotten Ones overflowed like a wave. Amid all that, the ground kept shaking.
"Rosemary! Catch this one!"
"Throw him!"
"W-whoa?!"
A man with black spots flew through the air. Rosemary caught him immediately.
I turned back at once.
The wave of Rotten Ones was flowing in faster than our escape speed. At this rate, we'd be caught before we reached the Clock Tower.
This is exactly like the normal difficulty suddenly jumping to hell difficulty! Shit!
There's no time to get the whole party to the Clock Tower. Splitting up right now is the right call!
"Rosemary! Take the others and run to the Clock Tower!"
"What?! What about you?!"
"Just go! Don't look back!"
I dropped my axe with a thud. I drew in a sharp breath and put strength into it. I split open the head of a Ratten that was opening its mouth.
Beatrice's spirit, which had popped out, clenched her fist tightly. Her body trembled.
【How heroic! Zahard! Sacrificing yourself alone...! You're the very model of a paladin!】
Don't just admire me on your own! Do I look like I'm going to die?! Sacrifice isn't in my vocabulary!
I break through everything and take everything! That's my motto!
"Rosemary! I said go!"
"B-but...!"
I glanced back at her.
"There's one more monster inside the Clock Tower, you know?! I'm asking you to handle it! I'll probably be a little late!"
"How am I supposed to handle that alone...!"
"You can do it! If it's you!"
"...Ngh!"
Rosemary bit her lip.
"...If you don't come soon, I'll really kill you!"
She turned around. The mercenaries and priests immediately fell in behind her as she started running.
"Y-you will follow, won't you?! Brother?!"
"You must come without delay!"
"Run without looking back!"
Right. Everyone, get out. I can handle myself.
A great host of Rotten Ones was swarming in. They were beginning to overflow from every corner of the city. The number pressing right up to my nose was too much for me alone to handle.
...Shape Transformation? That probably won't be enough either.
I glanced down at the axe. I put it back into the Pocket.
I considered taking out the Demon Sword Surtr. But if I collapsed, there'd be no one to clean up after me.
Still, wasn't there something just right for the occasion? I raised my hand to my earring. Beatrice's spirit, which had been clinging to my shoulder, opened her eyes wide.
【No way...? Finally...?!】
No one watching means it's fine to draw out my full power.
"Beatrice."
[Thirst and hunger.]
[Despair covered the world.]
[But even so, light remained.]
[People named the last light 'Brionac.']
[Your whole body is filled with faith.]
[The lost light of Ra descends upon the world.]
[Sacred Power is restored to maximum.]
[Health is restored to maximum.]
[Sacred Power efficiency doubles.]
"Do you like setting the city on fire?!"
【Ajaaaaaaaaa!!!!】
This is my first time actually using it. But that doesn't matter. I already know its abilities and power.
Originally an SS-rank weapon. But after Beatrice possessed it, it became a special-case Sacred Relic whose rank rose one more tier due to the Saintess's 'status.'
The earring of the SSS-rank item, Spear of Light Brionac, scattered like dust.
The black sky split apart with a crack for an instant.
[The 'Spear of Light Brionac' reveals its true form.]
The earring, oxidized into light, soared high into the sky.
-And the next moment, a pillar of fire slammed down into Paramer.
BOOM!
A spectacular entrance unlike anything before. Brionac, flooded with all the Sacred Power I could pour into it, blanketed Paramer in flames like divine punishment.
Its mere appearance swept away all the surrounding Rotten Ones. The overflowing Sacred Power temporarily formed a barrier and incinerated the Rotten Ones that approached.
Majesty befitting an SSS-rank item. I reached out toward Brionac, which was embedded in the split earth.
Sacred Power flowed down along my hand. My level and skills were too low to draw out its true power, but its very caliber was already on a different level from ordinary weapons.
【This is your first time using Brionac in real combat, right?! Try pushing Sacred Power into it! That's the starting point for properly using the Spear of Light Brionac!】
I literally pushed Sacred Power into it. Beatrice, linked with Brionac, trembled.
【Haaaah...! I-I have to endure... setting everything on fire is right in front of me... I can't give in to this strange feeling of Sacred Power here...!】
As expected of a born arsonist. What admirable resolve.
I swung Brionac and shook off the flames clinging to it. It was a weapon I'd handled a few times before. Not in reality, of course, but in the game...
In other words, I already had a complete grasp of its abilities!
[Using 'Golden Rain (SSS).']
Light began to fall from the sky that had been pierced by the pillar of fire. Red spears identical in shape to Brionac slammed into the ground all at once.
There were dozens of them. Considering the original skill reached thousands, it was an absurdly small number. My Sacred Power and body couldn't endure it, so the skill wasn't displaying its true power.
But for now, this was enough.
I raised the spear. I pulled my foot back and drew my body back with all my strength.
[Using 'Light-Devouring Fire - Luin (A).']
A perfect throwing stance. Flames coiled around the tip of Brionac. The red spears embedded around me also rose up individually, engulfed in crimson fire.
Beatrice gasped for breath.
【It's your first time using it, so how do you know that?!!!!!】
"Instinct!"
【Does that even make sense?!!!】
I moved my drawn-back body. The tip of the spiral spear. The condensed flame gathered at the point exploded.
Brionac is not a simple spear. It's a weapon whose value shines brightest when thrown.
[Using 'Salvo (SSS).']
"Hraaaaaah!!!!"
The hurled spear soared, tracing a red trajectory. Behind it, countless copies of Brionac pierced through the empty air all at once.
The wave of Rotten Ones was pierced in an instant. Flames shot up through the massive hole.
BOOM!!
A corner of Paramer died in an explosion.
Fire caught. Buildings began to collapse. Beatrice, gleaming in the flames, rubbed her hands together wickedly.
【Ahahaha!!! Let's burn it all!!! Purify every last bit of it!! Zahard!!! Like a true Apostle of the Sun God!!!!!】
That's more like an arsonist than an Apostle of the Sun God.
. ..
The elves went pale as they heard the alarm ringing throughout Paramer. It was because they had made a mistake while breaching the alarm system.
They hurriedly manipulated the machine again, but the alarm wouldn't stop. It rang even more loudly instead.
"F-for now, move!"
"We have to finish breaching the security system!"
"Protecting Flora is the priority!"
There was one reason the elves had come here.
To recover their lost treasure.
In the deepest part of Paramer's treasure vault, there was an elven treasure. A blessing borne by the World Tree that had lived in the middle of the blue forest.
The Tear of Yggdrasil.
They had only come to take back what had been stolen by human hands. With that alone, they could restore their diminished territory and revive the withered World Tree. They had pretended to cooperate with the search party to hide that intention, but...
They saw the true face of an Imperial knight. A selfish human. The moment the elves handed over the letter to him, they made up their minds.
To steal the Tear of Yggdrasil and escape this place by any means.
But things went wrong. The magic barrier on the treasure vault was so cutting-edge that the elves couldn't dismantle it, and the moment they touched one part of it, it began blaring an alarm.
And that alarm woke the Rotten Ones from their sleep.
"A monster is coming down!"
"Block it!"
"Don't let it get near Flora!"
"I-I can help too...!"
"Flora, please stay still!"
"We'll handle it!"
Along with the magical hacking to breach security, they had to block the Rotten Ones tumbling down the stairs.
Crossbows fired and arrows lodged in flesh. The cries of the Rotten Ones were put to sleep by magic, then woke again, over and over.
The elves' faces went pale. This was bad. They were running out of arrows.
The exhausting battle dragged on endlessly. It was eating away at even the little magical power they had left.
At this rate, they would all die!
The elven leader drew a knife. They carved apart the body of a charging Rotten One.
"Take Flora and get out!"
"N-no! How can we leave you...!"
"If I say get out, then get out right no..."
Ruuuumble.
A sound echoed. The elves' faces went pale. Rotten Ones began pouring down from the emergency ladder they had descended on.
"...Ah... aah..."
Even their only escape route was blocked. The Rotten Ones that had begun swarming in filled the underground plaza. The flesh-things that wouldn't die when cut, that kept moving even with blessed arrows lodged in their bodies, pressed in on the elves.
"No... no..."
"Spirits... help us... help us..."
"Watch over... me..."
The hooded elf stepped forward. The spirit hanging from her hand revealed its immense power, but it wasn't enough.
A golem with horns rose from the mud. But it was immediately consumed by the Rotten Ones. Its arm was torn off and it sank back down.
The hooded elf desperately reached out. She called the spirit again and again.
"...N-no... I can't... die here... like this..."
"Yeah. Shit. You shouldn't die."
A voice.
An explosion rang out. The hooded elf, without realizing it, looked toward the entrance.
Flames surged in. The Rotten Ones blazed up violently in an instant. The searing heat was so intense that even from far away, it was powerful enough to make her cheeks burn.
Step. Step.
Someone was walking in. A black priest's robe could be seen, trampling the burning Rotten Ones. The symbol of the Church of Ra.
A priest who should have died on the first day was somehow visible. Was she seeing things right now?
The hooded elf's eyes went wide. The man wreathed in fire held a spear longer than his own body in his hand. The blazing tip was sacred, an object of such power that it stole her breath for a moment.
"Th-that's..."
"You lot can't die to these bastards. Huh? You troll fuckers."
The fire-wreathed priest, Zahard, spat on the ground.
"If you're going to die, it should be by my hand. Isn't that right?"